Why can't schools all go back at once?

[Trumplosttheelection]

I have seen suggestions that secondary pupils will have to wait a week longer? Why?
Secondary schools have actually managed social distancing quite well and adolescent mental health is in crisis. Not to mention their academic future being in the toilet.
I can't see why they have to wait another week?

@sherrystrull

Schools with low cases were down to pure luck. We tried our best at my school as I'm sure did every other school.

Luck undoubtedly plays a part, but schools are so different. Our primary is really small and has between 10-15 children per class, and there is a focus on outside learning. The families tend to be very compliant with the rules and largely working from home (very few key workers) = probably less likely to catch covid than the general population.

Obviously we can’t have some schools returning earlier than others on this basis! (not least because it would be deeply unfair - smaller schools with a lot of outside space tend to be private)

But it just illustrates the point that covid spread in schools is about more than luck.

Enid You make a very fair point that it is more than luck. The non luck related reasons are all external though and cannot be quickly altered. How hard a school tried doesn't really come into it. That's a narrative that blames schools when they can't help classroom size, layout, parental responsibility, community rates.

I was just about to reply but @HercwasanEnemyofEducation summed it up perfectly for me.

I just don't like the narrative that schools are 'at fault' and have somehow been negligent if they've had lots of cases. All schools are trying their best

I’d like to add that on a personal level I’m all for schools going back. I was stating that schools aren’t the ‘safe’ spaces that the government would have us believe. I think it should be down to a parent‘s individual choice. And schools are undoubtedly going to be different in the amount of spaces and students they have.

@HercwasanEnemyofEducation @sherrystrull absolutely agree with you both. Whether it be luck or any number of external factors, the vast majority of factors are out of the control of the school. It would be ridiculous to blame a school for high cases.

Not possible to sd in schools with full classes.

That said I think they all will go back at the same time

At least EXV dh gas had first jab ago knows when U will get mine as have asthma but not severe enough and. obese but not obese enough etc etc

Ecv

Am I being really stupid?

If this 'new' Kent variant is so very contagious and we send all kids back at once, so soon, infection rates will still be pretty high - yes?

As people say, secondary schools were the biggest spreaders before lockdown - so this variant is just going to start spreading wildly again. The vaccines will not control the spread, particularly as neither teachers nor pupils will have been vaccinated.

I'm all for schools going back soon - but it needs to be in a careful and controlled way - preferably with blended learning/part time school for a while.

We want this to actually work don't we? So that further lockdowns are not needed ...

Schools going back doesn't need to wait for healthy younger teachers and children to be vaccinated because there is a very very low likelihood of them suffering any serious consequences.

There isn't even a vaccine approved for children yet.

There’s no SD in schools, they were the main vectors for transmission prior to this lockdown.

I'm not having a great time homeschooling but I'd rather do a gradual return, infants first, then juniors in primary and exam years then others in secondary.

Actually I'd rather them wait til after Easter to make sure we never have to do this again.

And it's only an extra 3 weeks extra of the kids being at home but an extra 5 weeks of getting more people vaccinated. Why not wait. I don't get it.

Wait til after Easter that was meant to say

If we want to minimise disruption to education then we need to be patient. If we are going to continue with bubbles and isolating close contacts then we are going to end up with pupils yoyoing in and out of school, if we open up too early.

Even my 14 year old thinks that's too soon for schools to return, and she hates online learning and is missing her friends like crazy. But she'd rather this continue until say Easter, than go back on 8th March and then end up with yet another lock down after Easter. And I totally agree with her.

Ideally I really don't think we should reopen schools until all adults have received their first jab. We really, really, need to reduce the risk of community spread before we reopen them otherwise we will just have wasted all this effort to get vaccinations done so quickly, but I don't think we will be able to wait until that long. Although it may happen that the vaccination effort picks up more speed and they get through the first does faster than expected.

Didn't the Spanish Flu pandemic rumble on for 2 years and a number of waves, so even if we can get this one down to 18 months thanks to vaccinations we will be doing well.

@Justajot

If we want to minimise disruption to education then we need to be patient. If we are going to continue with bubbles and isolating close contacts then we are going to end up with pupils yoyoing in and out of school, if we open up too early.

Unfortunately the government don't give two hoots about disruption to education

We will return to schools slightly earlier than is sensible is my expectation.

The government have allowed local elections to go ahead in May, and what matters to them is not what is right for young people, but what will play well with their core voters (pensioners).

This government absolutely does not care about young people.

Here in cyprus nursery and primary schools have gone back, as have school leavers. The rest of secondary classes are still on online lessons. We are slowly lifting restrictions here, and everyone who is allowed to work now has to have a weekly rapid test. I fully expect them to require secondary school.kids to have to have rapid tests weekly when they eventually go back to school

The government have allowed local elections to go ahead in May, and what matters to them is not what is right for young people, but what will play well with their core voters (pensioners).

I'm not sure that is right in terms of the education decisions. Many pensioners have school age grandchildren, want to see their GC back at school and would prioritise this over benefits to themselves.

@RedskyBynight

The government have allowed local elections to go ahead in May, and what matters to them is not what is right for young people, but what will play well with their core voters (pensioners).

I'm not sure that is right in terms of the education decisions. Many pensioners have school age grandchildren, want to see their GC back at school and would prioritise this over benefits to themselves.

Yes, but pensioners never see how shit schools are and are not the group at risk of catching the virus as they are not in direct contact with schools currently in the main.

Therefore a symbolic 'opening' will play well with them, whereas what would actually benefit children and parents would be some investment in schools and a sustainable opening i.e. not more bloody infections, isolations, closed bubbles.

Every policy decision the government make has been focus group tested with people over 60. The rest of us - they don't give a shit. And they absolutely do not give a shit about any of our kids.

Many pensioners have school age grandchildren, want to see their GC back at school and would prioritise this over benefits to themselves.

This.

Many pensioners are now vaccinated too.

@Pissedoff1234

And it's only an extra 3 weeks extra of the kids being at home but an extra 5 weeks of getting more people vaccinated. Why not wait. I don't get it.

And then hopefully we are all back permanently.

This has to be the last lockdown. So bojo,Whitty et al have to get this plan nailed.

Hancock referred to summer fun. Summer fun is not more restrictions because the plan did not work.

@Rosesaresweet

Many pensioners have school age grandchildren, want to see their GC back at school and would prioritise this over benefits to themselves.

This.

Many pensioners are now vaccinated too.

I think this all depends whether you are in favour of a premature opening or not, I personally prefer to wait til Easter, when cases will be way way lower.

Because I will be fucking livid if my kids go back and then have to isolate for another fucking week.

Sorry for swearing, but the whole schools thing has been a dismal failure and if anyone thinks the government care at all about our children, then they are a mug.

I think this all depends whether you are in favour of a premature opening or not, I personally prefer to wait til Easter, when cases will be way way lower.

Because I will be fucking livid if my kids go back and then have to isolate for another fucking week.

Yes this exactly. I just don't see why an extra 3 weeks at home is such a problem. It's 3 weeks additional homeschooling but 5 more weeks to get people vaccinated. That's in 8 weeks time. Those who are in the top 9 groups will be almost done by then.

On the 8th March, Groups 1-4 may be done but those in 5-9 who are still at a higher chance of going into hospital or dying won't be.

If the kids go back too early then they risk what happened last time which was kids in and out of school due to isolation. We had 3 separate isolations and I considered myself very lucky as some of my friends had kids out most of the term.

Kids may not catch it but take it home to their not yet vaccinated family who are possibly in groups 5-9 and the risk of the virus mutating is higher if it's allowed to whip round the younger groups.

I hate lockdown. 3 kids homeschooling while I look after a toddler is exhausting, they are missing their friends and my life is a shadow of its former self as I had had a very out of the house existence and now am confined to 4 walls but this must be the last time of locking down and the rest of the restrictions to be lifted so that at the end of this year they might be a distant memory.